Talk:Perch (unit)

Ok, I know it will need tuning, but for a noob wikipedian, it's a start.

I consolidated the various 'perch' stubs here and attempted to give some history and related facts that ties what was the separate pages together - now, is it really necessary to have 3 or 4 pages [perch (length)] [perch (area)] [perch (volume)] and ??, that redirect here? Not sure how to deal with that - perhaps best to leave them in place for now as there may be links to them. Speak to me, folks. I want to learn so the next effort is better (and easier). Andy N. (talk) 04:47, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

origin

Viking streets in York are laid out in perch units well before the Norman Conquest —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.87.93.229 (talk) 04:09, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

a sad farewell to the ancient measuring stick?

Heh. I originated the "perch" page when I was researching old US land ownership records and had to figure out what the heck the units of measurement meant. Shortly thereafter, while working on the same project, I came across records of "a perch of dry stone delivered" in several places around 1800 so I added that too. I think it's interesting that all references to the ~16' medieval ox-goad (which was used for such measurements before surveying chains became available to the common man) have been obliterated from the article. That stick is the eponymous "rod", and may well be the ancestor of the 16' filling-station dip sticks still in use today to measure gasoline levels in underground tanks. It's also interesting that the article on the cord of fire-wood has lost its connection to the perch and rod - the units are related (again by the good old stick) but by defining a cord as 4x4x8 instead of 2x4x16 (and let's face it - who burns 4' logs for heating? Most fireplaces take 2' or smaller logs) the relationship has been completely obscured. --Charlie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.153.180.229 (talk) 15:06, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I spoke too soon! There is still a reference to the old stick in the rod page, which links a lovely little stub on the ox goad itself (although apparently the goad page is on the endangered list). My comments on the cord of wood still apply, though. Long before chains and metal tools became commonplace, early farmers had a long stick to drive animals and to measure things with; although these sticks varied regionally in length, US measurements are derived from the late medieval English ones. When carrying such a stick would be too cumbersome (such as when logging in colonial America) a string or cord of equal length could be used. Such strings are easily folded to measure fractional units (such as 2', 4' etc.) because of the use of highly divisible base numbers, such as 12 and 16.--Charlie again

The ox-goad story is likely apocryphal. Zyxwv99 (talk) 16:13, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: page moved. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 15:21, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

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Perch (unit of measure) → Perch (unit) — "(unit of measure)" is clumsy and ambiguous. ("Measure" can refer to dry measure or liquid measure, i.e. certain uses of volume, as well as to any measure in general.) On the other hand, "(unit)" is the standard disambiguator. Hans Adler 15:50, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Sri Lanka =

It seems (I was informed of this from some spam, unfortunately) that the perch is used in Sri Lankan real estate, as for example this example. 22:00, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

10 feet, 3.05 meters?

"The perch as a lineal measure in Rome, was 10 feet (3.05 m)". Yes, the Romans somehow anticipated a "foot" which just happens to be almost exactly the same as the modern foot. EEng (talk) 22:22, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

There is a better statement at Ancient Roman units of measurement which makes the more plausible claim that the Roman unit was decempeda or pertica (perch in English), with value 10 pedes (9.708 ft). Probably this article is trying to say that Romans had a 10-foot perch, but their definition of a foot was different. Someone has unwisely used the convert template on 10 feet. Johnuniq (talk) 02:07, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

Exactly my point. There may also be something helpful on Roman weights and measures in Gibbons' Decline and Fall from the 10-Foot Perch. EEng (talk) 03:32, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

Yes, it should be fixed: remove the undue mentions of real estate listings; remove the converts which are misleading; explain the 10 Roman feet stuff. But what about the merge proposal dormant at the top? In modern terms, rod = perch = pole, but I don't know enough about the history to judge whether this article should be separate. Related: Pole (unit of length) redirects to Rod (unit), and Rood (unit) is separate. Johnuniq (talk) 04:44, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

I'm afraid this is way too far out of my expertise and interest, but good luck. I was just so struck by the silliness of offering a metric "equivalent" (to three significant figures!) for an obviously uncertain quantity that I felt I had to point it out. EEng (talk) 07:11, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

The Roman foot seems to have been a bit shorter. Our article on Ancient Roman units of measurement suggests that the pes is usually taken to have been about 0.296 m, citing William L. Hosch (ed.) (2010) The Britannica Guide to Numbers and Measurement New York, NY: Britannica Educational Publications, 1st edition. ISBN 9781615301089, p. 206. That would make the pertica about 2.96 m. Suggest changing that to read something like "The perch or pertica in ancient Rome was 10 pedes (Roman feet), or about 2.96 m". Any good? Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 08:23, 25 September 2014 (UTC)